In tune
HENK SCHUT
IN TUNE | HENK SCHUT, ART INSTALLATION, Y-HELLING
About the artwork
IN TUNE is about finding a new balance between people and their environment by calling on our ability to hear and listen. Just like tuning a musical instrument, which requires extreme listening and observation, we must keep listening and, as humans, tune in with our environment.
Henk Schut has been operating at the former shipyard for more than 20 years. Schut, known for large-scale installations such as THE VAN GOGH MILE, where he had a red rope pulled from the Van Gogh Museum to the Hermitage in Amsterdam, is now creating a work especially for NDSM. The IN TUNE sound system consists of a large bronze tuning fork, 3 meters high, and four horns that transmit sound from the Y slope to the four cardinal directions. At ever-changing moments, the tuning fork tunes the environment. Coming into contact with the water and concrete of the Y-slope, different sounds are constantly being produced. The sound and vibration of the fork spread undulating across the water, bouncing off the concrete walls and metal structures on the slope. This makes the whole place an acoustic musical instrument.
Curator Petra Heck: “The Y-ramp is a special location because it's where ships used to roll into the water. The view of the IJ and the city of Amsterdam from this location is unique. For the NDSM-werf Foundation, it is not only important that Henk Schut is an NDSM artist from the first hour, but also that he responds to the place, history and the present with his work. In addition to old myths, NDSM also needs new images and sounds to give substance to NDSM's special sense of place.”
About the artist
Henk Schut is an artist who analyses environments, communities, historical events and current events with an open, curious eye. He creates spaces within a space, place or context, where architecture and sound often play an important role. In his work, Schut has been focusing on the relationship between sound and space for a long time. With his installations, the artist is always looking for ways in which a place can be rethought or revisited via sound.
